Tag: Big Ass Show

Another year, another Big Ass Show, put on by local alternative FM station X96. I didn’t attend last year, so we would have to go back to 2012 for the last one I attended.

This year, it poured rain all but a couple of hours of the show. For those two hours it didn’t pour rain, it drizzled. It was cold, wet and I’m sure that scared some people away, so it was also less crowded this year. But that didn’t stop a couple of music fans from attending.

Thanks to my daughter for winning VIP passes.

This year was the first year that I was able to go to the show as a VIP, which meant we got free beer [Bud and Bud Light] and free food [a nice catered pulled pork and salads spread] and most importantly, a place to get warm and dry and still see the bands on the main stage.

Myself, Tiffany and Bill Allred

One of the bonuses of being in the VIP area is hanging out with X96 staff, like Bill Allred, who is 1/3 of the Radio From Hell show on mornings. Bill and I go back to 1992 when X96 came onto the FM airwaves. In fact, Tiffany was barely a year old when she first met Bill. Now she’s all grown up. So I was glad to get this picture of the three of us together, many years later.

The Broods in the rain

Band wise, there was a good lineup this year. The Broods were up first to battle the rain. Hailing from New Zealand, they had a great set, even if I wasn’t familiar with their music.

Phantogram killed it good.

Now Phantogram I knew. I had played their recent album a lot and knew the songs pretty well. Lots of energy with this band and they performed like the rain wasn’t an issue [even if it was for us fans that weren’t covered by a stage]. The dark sounds and raging guitar made for a nice way to move around to their songs.

Capital Cities are singing in the rain

Another band that I’ve played their album a lot is Capital Cities. I really liked their set and they performed quite well in the cold and rain. They played all of their hits like “Safe and Sound”, “Kangaroo Court” and “Chartreuse” I really like this band a lot. They remind me of Passion Pit and their style, but they have a big band sound that just comes across as explosive.

More Capital Cities

One of the songs that they played was “Farrah Fawcett Hair” which opens with the spoken announcement:

Support For Capital Cities comes from lazy hooks

It kind of catches you off guard when you hear the song, so imagine the audience that’s not familiar with the opening of the song. Cool that they have a dig at themselves – lazy hooks and all.

Neon Trees

A meet and greet with Neon Trees

Part of the VIP passes was a meet and greet with one of the bands. Since Tiffany is a big fan, she picked Neon Trees. And I like the band a lot, too. So I was good with her choice.

the wristband that got us into the meet and greet.

If you’ve ever done a meet and greet, it’s an organized bit, much like going through a wedding reception line, but meeting the band members and chatting for a brief moment. The wristband is your visual to others that you are supposed to be in the area with the band, at least for the time.

A photo op with the band members of Neon Trees

Of course, when you meet the band, you need to get your picture taken with them, right? A since they have us use our own phones, they had a staff guy using a nice DSLR to take photos of us. My shirt is a bit wet and Chris to my left is wearing a shirt that appears to be wanting to eat my VIP passes.

Neon Trees take the stage

The rain stopped just minutes before Neon Trees took the stage and it stayed away until right after their set ended. Such perfect timing.

The band played a good hour, jamming through their hits like “Sleeping With A Friend” “Animal” “Everybody Talks” and “Text Me In The Morning” the band made us forget about being wet and cold.

Tyler Glenn, front and center

The energy this band puts out is always great. Brandon, Elaine and Chris all provide a musical background that accompanies Tyler’s vocal power. Never disappointed with each live show.

And now to wait for the next X96-sponsored show, which is about a month away.